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I set off this morning on my usual route north of Narbonne and across past the Abbaye Fontfroide. Like last week the wind was howling again. It was partly sunny, but the wind also had a pretty keen edge to it, keeping the temperature in single figures (C) on the way up there. I'd decided to head through Termenes Villerouge and on to the Château d'Arques, which is on the same road. It is an interesting road, winding though the western edge of the Corbieres, but as the road climbed the temperature dropped a bit, showing 7C at one point, but not really getting above 8.5C. The wind wasn't helping either. Fortunately, before I'd set off I had opted to put my winter jacket on, but only had bike jeans and summer gloves to go with it. Anyway, some of the views towards the Pyrénées were stunning. Unfortunately there wasn't really anywhere to stop on that road to get any pictures. Coming out of Arques village I spotted the Château. I went along to the carpark, but the Château was shielded from view by trees, so I headed back towards the village to get a shot of it across the fields. I decided to carry on a bit further along that road, as I'd seen on the map that the D14 was on the left only a few more km's along the road and that road went through an old Roman Spa place and then through to more recent spa town of Rennes-les-Bains. It's quite a picturesque town, in a valley between some pretty high cliffs, but there wasn't really anywhere decent to stop, so I pressed on. The D14 loops back around and would take me past the Château Peyrepertuse and Château Quéribus, which is a interesting road. So, as I made my way along there I came to the village of Cubières-sur-Cinoble. Just before getting into the village I spotted a signpost for a road off to my right, which said Gorges-de-Galamus 2km. The gorge was already on my radar as somewhere I wanted to visit and, being this close, it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss! Unfortunately, the photos that I got really don't do the place justice! A lot of the road there is pretty much single track, which has been carved into the cliff face! It twists and turns, following the face of the cliff, with occasional passing places. The wind was howling down the gorge, which made the drops over the low wall alongside the road pretty interesting! There was a café and parking area where the gorge opened out a bit, so I thought that I'd take the opportunity to stretch my legs and have a look back along the gorge. After my short stop I put home into the sat-nav, but the routes shown were dropping down to Perpignan and back to Narbonne via the motorway or the RN, neither of which appealed. So I decided to head back up the gorge and get back onto the D14, which was the route that is had originally planned on using. The trip back up the gorge was equally as exciting as the trip down, with gusts of wind really moving the bike around! Back on the D14 the road was really nice, winding its way through the hills and villages. I stopped for a pee and a coffee from my flask just under the Château Peyrepertuse. A small group of bikes came past and slowed to make sure that I was OK. So I gave them the thumbs up. The rest of the journey back went pretty well, but the wind was still taking some of the pleasure out of the ride, and I'd realised that I was feeling pretty cold in my hands and feet, so it was definitely time to get back and warm up. I don't know the distance, but I'd estimate it was around 220-230km and I was out for just short of 5 hours.

The boys first shopping trip to tesco. His sister is infatuated with him, never wanting to leave his side and always the 1st to want to help feed or change him. He's also gluttonous, he's now drinking his milk like it's going out of fashion

Me and another user on here.

That’s the rest of the day sorted for @Six30.

I aspired to one but never got there, was distracted but other things. I had an XS750 for awhile which I liked but it was my first big bike and I moved onto something quicker before to long. And no I am not ginger I had a girlfriend who was a trainee hairdresser, who fucking ruined my hair

phoooaaaar... is that your mrs..

There might be some confusion on your part, Pete. That doesn't prove you can swim.

Nice dress

My boy and older daughter have no interest in bikes at all but my Chloe is mad for them. Part of me is chuffed and part of me is terrified of what she will get up to. I am hoping the ladies group will give her some guidance.

Popped out to the Britt again tonight with my youngest. The lady who organises it runs a female bikers group for ride outs and socials so Chloe has joined that now. Good for her to make some contacts. Lots of Harleys again tonight and a few others plus a large youth 125 group. Really nice XS Eleven and a new Triumph 400X., plus some tidy Beamers. We left early as Chloe still not 100% well, loads more bikes coming as we left.

Walking ain't a problem for me, I do walk to the local shops rather than jump in the car .........meanwhile the wife after 50 yards?

I need to get much more exercise, but I think I will have to leave the bungalow to do that..

Something he avoids by the use of rohypnol usually.

Don't panic you'll get used to it, it'll improve your riding once you feel things moving around underneath you . Back brake locking up is a normal occurance

not blaming brexit for the straw ?

Don’t be silly, he is ginger, they melt in seawater.

Once again you're putting words in my mouth, I never said that or even intimated it, for all I know you may all be in the top 1%, unless of course you believe that man walked on the Moon that is. No no, not this Moon, the other one.

More on the brakes, here are the calipers that are ready for piston removal, the pistons are numbered but you can't see that, after much searching I have found the method of getting them out with compressed air, put a G Clamp on one piston and wrap an old rag around the other, pop one out and then reverse the procedure, sounds easy on paper but should work without damage or injury. I have found a bearing supply company in the area (100k's away) that has seals so I hope that they can match up the ones in the calipers, the KTM parts fiche says no stock so here's hoping that they are not a special size.

I wouldn't dare she would go through you lot of soft fuckers like a dose of salts, evil little witch most of the time. My favourite obviously.

That and incase she passes any of the medication over, and she had never wanted to breast feed so its always been formula milk with both of ours

Incase she fits while feeding? She can milk herself, down Six, and feed by bottle.

Canny resemblance

Be afraid!...very afraid!.

I went on a ride out today with Kernow Crew that started at Damerells. Then we followed the A39 coast road to Boscastle, then on to Bude then inland to Launceston to finish. Good well marshalled event that raised money for a good cause £5 per bike. I reckon there were about 100 bikes plus a few trikes. I enjoyed the experience but the last time I went on a big ride out I swore I never would again and that was about 20 years ago, so on those stats I won’t be going on another. Nice to look at the bikes but twat quota was high. One genius managed to drop his new Indian in the carpark disabling it by breaking off the clutch lever. Obviously not used to the extreme forward controls and couldn’t find the back brake and snatched the front. Down he went. Some really nice bikes there, lots of Harleys and Indians and some bikes I liked as well. I actually really liked this 1200 Sportster but the vibes had to be witnessed to be believed. Thought the motor was going to jump out of the frame. Nice Bulldog. Varadero, bloody monster sized bike. For Pete Beautiful Boscastle. First time I have been there since it was washed away in the early 2000’s Felt really different. Scuffed jugs. Nice Wank Panzer for Pedro Other randoms.

im up your way in a few weeks .. i think me and your mrs need introducing.

Good on your daughter for making contacts and still enjoying the bike scene. Neither of my boys have any interest in motorbikes! I blame their mother!

Cheers, I enjoyed it but don't think big group rides are for me, 40 mph runs surrounded by fuck knows and their incredibly annoying pipes just not my thing. At on point I had someone in front of me on a Jap cruiser with open pipes, noisey tawt. Then I had somebody behind me on a new Trident with a tiny can that made it sound like farts. Why do that to a pretty nice bike I don't know. Can you tell it turned me into a grumpy old man

Nah some patched up fuck nut on a Scout, spotless un till he dropped it in the gravel

It’s the Nike and Adidas conspiracy!

Cheers Pete. Yeah, the new bike is working out fine. I can't work out if the clutch is heavier on this compared to the Scrambler, or if it's just that I went further and more gear changes, but my clutch hand was aching a bit when I was on the way back. I think that I need a new screen though. Even on the highest position I get some wind blast right on the peak on my lid, so it rattles the lid a bit! Otherwise it's nice to ride.

I got my blood test results back today and went through them with my doctor. All good apart from my cholesterol is high so I’m going onto some low dosage tablets for a couple of months to help get it down and at the same time make some changes to the diet and up the exercise. I don’t eat badly and I’m active but a bit of improvement in those areas won’t hurt. Apart from that no dramas!

My Pension arrived today, which included two weeks at the increased rate.....total €960! Unfortunately, most of that got swallowed up by the Quarterly tax bill which went out today.

amateur ... they wake up eventually with that.

No.....not the bike! Obviously I have no idea how to do shit like that. I'm talking about the reservoirs, because we've had years of very little rain. And there's now a serious drought situation. Now I'm not one who normally looks for more rain, but every year the price of straw for the horses has been going up. We used to pay around €400 for a year's worth......but last it was €1200 and we had to have it brought in from Albacete. Which is about 150 miles away. So an increase in rainfall and the filling of the reservoirs is critical.....not just here, but throughout Spain. So off I went to check the current situation. Luckily, the weather was great......around 20c! So it was perfect conditions! The approached into Castril.......and the wall of the Dam. This is The Style! I was amazed when I saw the levels in Castril because when I came here last Summer it was very low indeed. This is probably the highest I've seen it in 5 years! It's nowhere near it's highest, but the water line has gone up a lot. Two car loads of a Spanish family then turned up......three generations of them. So I ended up having to take a load of group photos of them. They weren't from Andalucia because they were speaking Spanish in a grammatically correct way rather than slurring words and leaving out letters in words. Lovely people......couple of hot girls in their 20's with them. I wanted to get a photo with those two, but I couldn't very well tell the rest of the family to get out of the way! Then it was on to San Clemente.......the levels there had risen a bit but nothing like the scale it had in Castril. Most of the land you see here was underwater when I came here in 2005...... Had to get the obligatory shot on the bridge.....obviously destined to be BOTM for April. Bike ran great as usual.......these rural roads are the perfect place for it. And it actually made me think......"Why am I considering selling it?" Well there we are! I got out and did something......and in doing so, I made a positive contribution to the forum! Some of you lot should try it sometime!

we go thru the same water cycles here in Southern California. Fortunately, the past two years have brought lots of rain and have restored most of the reservoirs. It also restored a historical lake that closed several highways west of Bakersfield. The problem with our SoCal weather cycles is that the droughts come on slowly and last for 7-9 years, then end dramatically. That allows people plenty of time to convince themselves that it was "never like this before".

Nice Thruxton Trip stats.

Very atmospheric Terry! But there's no way I'd get that close to water!

And he's home

no van was involved in todays outing

Nobody has anything worthwhile to add Chris!

Hi Bob, I'm still alive but having a proper job has been playing havoc with my riding scheduleand as the kids get older they seem to need more of my time than when they were younger. I've been dong very little riding this winter but have a couple of trips planned for May which I might get some pics of. Apart from that, when I do come on here and catch up a bit, I find that I have nothing worthwhile to add to any of it.

Class! I like the picture with the hill behind the bike, spoiled by the topbox but there you go.